Fine Tuning of the Dimensionality of Zinc Silicate Nanostructures and Their Application as Highly Efficient Absorbents for Toxic Metal Ions

The controllable synthesis of materials with the desired crystal structure and dimensionality is of great significance in material science.In this work we report the successful synthesis of amorphous and crystalline zinc silicates with different dimensionalities and well-defined shapes,including hollow spheres,nanowires and membranes.The structure-related absorption properties have been studied.A detailed study of their ability to remove Pb(Ⅱ),Cd(Ⅱ),Cr(Ⅲ),and Fe(Ⅲ)ions has been performed.The amorphous zero-dimensional(0-D)hollow spheres show the best removal ability for all the metal ions investigated.In particular,their absorption capacity for Pb(Ⅱ)ions is 129 mg/g,which is double the value reported for magnesium silicate hollow spheres.However,the removal abilities of crystalline one-dimensional(1-D)nanowires and two-dimensional(2-D)membranes are found to be dependent on the charge of the target metal ion.In general,nanowires show better removal capacity for trivalent ions,especially Fe(Ⅲ),while 2-D membranes exhibit better removal capacity for divalent ions.

EVchain: An Anonymous Blockchain-Based System for Charging–Connected Electric Vehicles

Purchases of electric vehicles have been increasing in recent years. These vehicles differ from traditional fossil-fuel-based vehicles especially in the time consumed to keep them running. Electric-Vehicle-charging Service Providers(EVSPs) must arrange reasonable charging times for users in advance. Most EVSP services are based on third-party platforms, but reliance on third-party platforms creates a lack of security, leaving users vulnerable to attacks and user-privacy leakages. In this paper, we propose an anonymous blockchain-based system for charging-connected electric vehicles that eliminates third-party platforms through blockchain technology and the establishment of a multi-party security system between electric vehicles and EVSPs. In our proposed system, digital certificates are obtained by completing distributed Public Key Infrastructure(distributed-PKI) identity registration,with the user registration kept separate from the verification process, which eliminates dependence on the EVSP for information security. In the verification process, we adopt smart contracts to solve problems associated with centralized verification and opaque services. Furthermore, we utilize zero-knowledge proof and ring-signature superposition to realize completely anonymous verification, which ensures undeniability and unforgeability with no detriment to anonymity. The evaluation results show that the user anonymity, information authenticity, and system security of our system fulfill the necessary requirements.

A trusted architecture for EV shared charging based on blockchain technology

With the development of the Energy Internet and the support of the subsidy policies of various countries,Electric Vehicles(EVs)have ushered in a golden development period.However,the development of EVs needs to solve the problems of insufficient charging piles(CPs)and difficulty in finding CPs.In order to solve the problem of difficult charging of EVs,the concept of shared charging came into being,in which idle CPs or private CPs are shared to meet the charging needs of more people and improve the utilization rate of CPs.However,the shared charging scheme implemented by third-party platforms faces the issue of trust lacking.This paper proposes a blockchain architecture for shared charging,which can use the blockchain to build a trust environment involving private pile owners,charging pile(CP)operators,Electric Vehicle(EV)users,etc..The blockchain architecture also contains the block structure where pointer was added for quick search,contract content that can automatically execute multi-party contracts to achieve secure computing and reputation-based incentive mechanism to provide high-quality charging services in detail.This architecture establishes the multi-party trust environment for shared charging from three aspects:secure storage,secure computing,and secure incentives.